It isn't about the beer pong, Boulder survey says

Uni Hill residents make connections to broader enforcement issues

Fifty-six percent of University Hill residents surveyed this summer said front-yard beer pong tables have a moderate or high impact on their daily lives.

But, as many suspected would be the case, the survey showed that the tables themselves are merely a symbol of broader issues with neighborhood enforcement.

The survey, released Friday, was administered by the city following City Councilman Andrew Shoemaker's call in May for the possible banning of beer pong tables — also used for the local variant, beer die — left in front of many college houses on the Hill, often staying in place for weeks on end, sometimes decorated with empty cans and red cups.

Rather than suggest a beer pong table ordinance similar to the 2002 ban on outdoor couches, city staff drew up a gentle strategy, involving outreach and education on the Hill by the city's neighborhood relations and code enforcement staff, who promised to return to the council this fall with a better understanding of the root issues of the beer pong table storage issue.

"What we saw as a pervasive element is that for some, beer pong becomes another issue associated with noise, accumulation of trash, other quality-of-life issues, said Amanda Nagl, Boulder's neighborhood liaison, in an interview last week.

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According to the city's report, many respondents felt landlords are not held responsible enough for the actions of their tenants.

"Enforce the existing noise, litter and unrelated-parties-in-one-residence ordinances!" read one in a packet of comments collected in the survey. "The city government is not doing its job in these areas."

"It is just a matter of respecting the neighborhood," another comment read. "The students aren't here long-term, but this is our home. It is our biggest investment. We don't need to see the trash or hear the f-bomb dropped in front of our kids."

Other comments did directly cite concerns with beer pong tables. Many called them "eyesores," and several homeowners wrote that they feel uncomfortable walking with their children past houses where outdoor beer sport is afoot.

"I know of no other college town where beer pong tables sit in front of the rental properties," wrote another respondent, clearly unaware that front-yard beer pong is a common practice in dozens of other cities in this country. "It is a serious problem. ... They should play in their backyards ONLY!"

Though respondents tended to focus on bigger-picture concerns, they also offered beer pong-specific suggestions, including that the tables be taken down after use or moved permanently to backyards.

University of Colorado students, who declined to give their names, play a game of beer die on University Hill on Friday afternoon. They always store the table away when it's not in use, they said, to be good neighbors. (Paul Aiken / Staff Photographer)

Of a dozen students interviewed on the Hill Friday, ranging from self-proclaimed beer game mavens to non-partakers, none condoned the sorts of unkempt lawns and consistently disruptive behavior that so many neighbors complained of in the survey.

But, as University of Colorado senior Valerie Esposito pointed out, those who buy homes on the Hill should expect their student neighbors to act their age sometimes.

"This is a university. This is where students live," she said. "And we don't have many choices; we're not all going to live in the dorms on campus, so we have to go somewhere around the university. To a certain extent, I think you can't totally restrict students. You can't tell them not to act like a college student."

CU, meanwhile, has agreed to make a request that residents remove front-yard tables after use, the city reported, and has vowed to do more to encourage removal of trash. The university will also include this messaging in its "Together We Make it Home" marketing, and student leaders will continue to meet with neighborhood relations staff to discuss the effectiveness of these programs on the Hill in coming months.

Councilman Shoemaker, the one-man catalyst for beer pong's emergence in local politics, is satisfied with the progress.

"I'm not against beer pong," he said. "I was raising the question, we got feedback, and we're hearing more feedback now. At this point, we let the university educate people about it and we let the neighborhood liaison work on it, but I don't think there's any interest in moving forward at a council level right now."

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